Providing data associated with insured losses

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for assessing damage to a plurality of properties is provided. After an occurrence of an event that is a potential cause of insured losses, image data depicting an aerial view of the properties may be received from an aerial platform. The image data may be processed to determine a subsequent condition of each property after occurrence of the event. Further, a damage severity level may be determined for each property, and used to display a map depicting different regions having properties with different respective damage severity levels.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/863,748, filed Apr. 30, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/398,422, filed Jan. 4, 2017 (U.S. Pat. No.10,672,081), and are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to providing data associatedwith insured property, and more particularly, to a system and method forproviding data associated with insured losses.

BACKGROUND

Existing techniques for coordinating a response of an insurance providerto a storm primarily involve representatives of the insurance provideraccessing online weather maps to track the storm, and assessing damageafter the storm. Frequently, to assess damage, initial claims data isreviewed in conjunction with reports from representatives who are at thesite of the storm damage. Based on such information, representatives andother resources are deployed. Unfortunately, the site of storm damagemay be physically inaccessible for some time after the storm, andinitial claims data may be inaccurately reported by insured parties.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for assessing damage toa plurality of properties may be provided. The method may be performedusing one or more processors and may include: after an occurrence of anevent that is a potential cause of insured losses, receiving, from anaerial platform via at least one network connection, image data (i)obtained by at least one image capturing device oriented on the aerialplatform and (ii) depicting an aerial view of the plurality ofproperties; accessing previous image data depicting the plurality ofproperties, the previous image data indicating, for each property of theplurality of properties, an initial condition prior to the occurrence ofthe event; processing the image data to determine, for each of theplurality of properties, a subsequent condition of the property afterthe occurrence of the event; based on processing the image data,identifying a portion of the plurality of properties each having thesubsequent condition that is different from the initial condition; basedon processing the image data, determining a damage severity level foreach property in the portion of the plurality of properties; anddisplaying, in a graphical user interface, a map depicting (i) a firstregion including properties of the portion of the plurality ofproperties having a first damage severity level, and (ii) a secondregion including properties of the portion of the plurality ofproperties having a second damage severity level.

In another embodiment, a system for assessing damage to a plurality ofproperties may be provided. The system may include a user interface; atransceiver configured to connect to an aerial platform via at least onenetwork connection; a memory storing a set of computer-executableinstructions and previous image data; and one or more processorsinterfacing with the user interface, the transceiver, and the memory.The one or more processors may be configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to:after an occurrence of an event that is a potential cause of insuredlosses, receive, from the aerial platform via the transceiver, imagedata (i) obtained by at least one image capturing device oriented on theaerial platform and (ii) depicting an aerial view of the plurality ofproperties; access, from the memory, previous image data depicting theplurality of properties, the previous image data indicating, for eachproperty of the plurality of properties, an initial condition prior tothe occurrence of the event; process the image data to determine, foreach of the plurality of properties, a subsequent condition of theproperty after the occurrence of the event; based on processing theimage data, identify a portion of the plurality of properties eachhaving the subsequent condition that is different from the initialcondition; based on processing the image data, determine a damageseverity level for each property in the portion of the plurality ofproperties; and cause the user interface to display a map depicting (i)a first region including properties of the portion of the plurality ofproperties having a first damage severity level, and (ii) a secondregion including properties of the portion of the plurality ofproperties having a second damage severity level.

In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium may store computer-readable instructions for accessing damage toa plurality of properties. When executed by one or more processors, thecomputer-readable instructions may cause the one or more processors to:after an occurrence of an event that is a potential cause of insuredlosses, receive, from an aerial platform via at least one networkconnection, image data (i) obtained by at least one image capturingdevice oriented on the aerial platform and (ii) depicting an aerial viewof the plurality of properties; access previous image data depicting theplurality of properties, the previous image data indicating, for eachproperty of the plurality of properties, an initial condition prior tothe occurrence of the event; process the image data to determine, foreach of the plurality of properties, a subsequent condition of theproperty after the occurrence of the event; based on processing theimage data, identify a portion of the plurality of properties eachhaving the subsequent condition that is different from the initialcondition; based on processing the image data, determine a damageseverity level for each property in the portion of the plurality ofproperties; and display, in a graphical user interface, a map depicting(i) a first region including properties of the portion of the pluralityof properties having a first damage severity level, and (ii) a secondregion including properties of the portion of the plurality ofproperties having a second damage severity level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The figures described below depict various aspects of the system andmethods disclosed herein. It should be understood that each figuredepicts an embodiment of a particular aspect of the disclosed system andmethods, and that each of the figures is intended to accord with apossible embodiment thereof. Further, wherever possible, the followingdescription refers to the reference numerals included in the followingfigures, in which features depicted in multiple figures are designatedwith consistent reference numerals.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for providing data associated withinsured losses;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example computing device and components thereof;

FIG. 3A is a flow chart of an example method, routine, or process forproviding data associated with insured losses;

FIG. 3B is a flow chart of another example method, routine, or processfor providing data associated with insured losses;

FIG. 4A illustrates an example user interface associated with providingdata associated with insured losses;

FIG. 4B illustrates another example user interface associated withproviding data associated with insured losses;

FIG. 4C illustrates another example user interface associated withproviding data associated with insured losses;

FIG. 4D illustrates yet another example user interface associated withproviding data associated with insured losses;

FIG. 5A illustrates another example user interface associated withproviding data associated with insured losses;

FIG. 5B illustrates another example user interface associated withproviding data associated with insured losses; and

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of an example system for processingimage data.

The figures depict various aspects of the present invention for purposesof illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the following text sets forth a detailed description ofnumerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legalscope of the description is defined by the words of the claims set forthat the end of this patent and equivalents. The detailed description isto be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possibleembodiment since describing every possible embodiment would beimpractical. Numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented,using either current technology or technology developed after the filingdate of this patent, which would still fall within the scope of theclaims.

It should also be understood that, unless a term is expressly defined inthis patent using the sentence “As used herein, the term ‘______’ ishereby defined to mean . . . ” or a similar sentence, there is no intentto limit the meaning of that term, either expressly or by implication,beyond its plain or ordinary meaning, and such term should not beinterpreted to be limited in scope based on any statement made in anysection of this patent (other than the language of the claims). To theextent that any term recited in the claims at the end of this patent isreferred to in this patent in a manner consistent with a single meaning,that is done for sake of clarity only so as to not confuse the reader,and it is not intended that such claim term be limited, by implicationor otherwise, to that single meaning.

I. EXAMPLE PROVIDING OF DATA ASSOCIATED WITH INSURED LOSSES

The present embodiments relate to, inter alia, a system and method forproviding data associated with insured losses, such as data associatedwith insured losses to residential properties. More particularly, dataregarding an event (e.g., a storm such as a hurricane, flood, tornado,etc.) that is a cause of the insured losses may be received, such as byone or more processors executing suitable non-transitory computerreadable instructions. In some embodiments, the data regarding the eventmay be weather data, such as weather data obtained using a weather alertapplication programming interface (API). In one example, an insuranceprovider that utilizes the one or more processors may use the IBM®Weather Alerts for Insurance API provided by International BusinessMachines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y. The data regarding the event, suchas weather data, may instead be received in any similar or otherwisesuitable manner. The data regarding the event may indicate a path of theevent (e.g., storm), which may be displayed on a map provided as part ofthe data associated with the insured losses.

In some embodiments, one or more notifications associated with the eventmay be caused (e.g., using the one or more processors) to be sent to oneor more insured parties before the event (e.g., before the storm arrivesat a geographic location(s) of properties, such as homes, of the one ormore insured parties). For example, the one or more notifications may bepushed from an insurance provider server to mobile computing devices ofthe one or more insured parties to alert the one or more insured partiesof the approaching storm or other event having the potential to cause aninsured loss. The one or more notifications may be sent to the one ormore insured parties based on the received data regarding the event(e.g., which may include data indicative of a current location of astorm) and based on an indication(s) of the location(s) of the propertyor properties of the one or more insured parties.

For each of a plurality of properties insured by the insurance providerand sustaining the insured losses, a respective indication of a locationof the property may be received. Image data may also be obtained from atleast one image capturing device from an aerial view of the plurality ofproperties, where the image data may be indicative, for each of theplurality of properties, of a respective condition of the property afterthe property sustains a respective one or more of the insured losses(e.g., as a result of the storm passing over and/or through theproperty).

In some embodiments, it may be determined whether to receive/obtain theimage data using one of a manned aircraft, a satellite, or an unmannedaircraft system (UAS). Such a determination may be based on, forexample, at least one of a type of the event, a time specified (e.g., bya representative of the insurance provider) for receipt of the imagedata, or actual and/or expected weather conditions at one or more of theplurality of properties (e.g., expected weather conditions during aperiod of time, such as a period of time including the time for whichreceipt of the image data is specified and/or time before the time forwhich receipt of the image data is specified, etc.).

The image data from the at least one image capturing device may beprocessed to determine, for each of the plurality of properties, anindication of the respective condition of the property after theproperty sustains the respective one or more of the insured losses. Theprocessing of the image data may in some examples include processing theimage data to determine an indication of a similarity of the image datato previous image data (e.g., stored image data associated with aprevious storm) indicative of at least one previous property conditionafter a previously sustained insured loss (e.g., at least one propertycondition after such a previous storm).

The data associated with the insured losses may be provided, via a userinterface, such as to representatives of the insurance provider thatcoordinate the response of the insurance provider to the storm or otherevent. The data associated with the insured losses may include, forexample, (i) the respective indications of the locations of each of theplurality of properties sustaining the insured losses, and (ii) theindications of the respective conditions of each of the plurality ofproperties after the plurality of properties sustains the insuredlosses.

In some embodiments, the data associated with the insured losses mayinclude map data indicative of a map view of the plurality ofproperties. The data associated with the insured losses may also oralternatively indicate first and second numbers of the plurality ofproperties that, generally speaking, indicate numbers of properties thathave sustained a particular level or category of damage from the stormor other event.

In some embodiments, the data associated with the insured losses mayinclude at least one of an enlarged view of one or more of the pluralityof properties before and/or after the event, property data (e.g.,address, size, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, etc.) regardingthe one or more of the plurality of properties, data regarding one ormore insured parties (e.g., name, contact information, etc.) associatedwith (e.g., owning) the one or more of the plurality of properties, dataregarding one or more agents (e.g., name, contact information, etc.) ofthe insurance provider associated with the one or more of the pluralityof properties (e.g., assigned as the agent for policies issued for theone or more of the plurality of properties), or data regarding one ormore insurance policies (e.g., name and/or contact information ofinsured party, insurance policy terms, etc.) issued by the insuranceprovider with respect to the one or more of the plurality of properties.Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, at least a portionof the data associated with the insured losses may be provided via anadditional user interface accessible by the one or more agents of theinsurance provider so as to allow the agent(s) to see such data inaddition to allowing representatives of the insurance provider directlycoordinating a response to the event to see such data.

In some embodiments, based on the data associated with the insuredlosses, funds may be provided to or on behalf of an insured party;information may be provided to the insured party regarding filing aclaim; information may be provided to the insured party regarding alocation of a mobile response unit deployed by the insurance provider;and/or information may be provided to the insured party via anadditional user interface regarding a condition of property of theinsured party (e.g., so the insured party may remotely monitor, via theadditional user interface, such condition of the property).

In some embodiments, data may be received (e.g., from a database, suchas a database including map data) regarding a plurality of locationsconfigured to accommodate one or more mobile response units of theinsurance provider (e.g., large stores, churches or schools, and/orother areas, with, for example, ample parking lot space to accommodate,for example, a catastrophe mobile unit). One or more of the plurality oflocations may be determined as a location(s) to which to deploy the oneor more mobile response units based on at least one of the dataregarding the plurality of locations, the data associated with theinsured losses, or a user input (e.g., a user selection(s) of one ormore of the plurality of locations).

In some embodiments, based on the data associated with the insuredlosses, at least one of an insurance provider reserve setting associatedwith the event or data associated with dispatching of representatives ofthe insurance provider to at least one location associated with theevent (e.g., at least one damaged property) may be determined.

By providing a system and method that utilize, among other things, dataregarding a storm or other event that causes insured losses; indicationsof locations of properties; and image data and results of processingthereof that indicate conditions of properties after the storm or otherevent to provide data associated with insured losses via a userinterface, among other features, various advantages are achieved. Forexample, the storm or other event may be tracked before the stormreaches the locations of properties; the potential for damage to theproperties may thus be understood before the storm reaches the locationsof the properties; actual damage to the properties may be readilyassessed using the image information when, for example, the damagedarea(s) is/are inaccessible (e.g., because the image data may beobtained from an aerial view of the properties); and appropriateindications of damaged properties, locations of such properties, etc.may be provided to facilitate appropriate deployment of resources. Thesystems and methods described herein thus provide an integrated platformfor pre-event planning through post-event response, and improve previouscomputerized functionality that provided some pre-event monitoring andrelied heavily on initial loss or claims reporting by policyholders andaccessibility of an area(s) of damage in order for determinations to bemade regarding a response to the event. Other advantages will berecognized by one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the teachingand disclosure herein.

II. EXAMPLE SYSTEM AND RELATED FUNCTIONALITY

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 for providing data associatedwith insured losses (e.g., total or partial destruction of insuredresidential properties such as houses, condominiums, apartments, etc.,such as destruction resulting from a storm, weather event, or otherinsured event). The example system 100 may include a plurality ofproperties, shown in the example of FIG. 1 as a first property 102 a, asecond property 102 b, and a third property 102 c; a computer network104; an event data service 106; an insurance provider server 108; adatabase 110; an insured party mobile computing device 112; an aerialplatform information server 114; an aerial platform 116 with at leastone image capturing device, shown in the example of FIG. 1 as at leastone image capturing device 118; a plurality of insurance representativecomputing devices, shown in the example of FIG. 1 as a first insurancerepresentative computing device 120 a and a second insurancerepresentative computing device 120 b; a mobile response unit locationinformation server 122; and a third party computing device 124.

The plurality of properties 102 may be a plurality of residentialproperties, such as a plurality of houses, townhouses, condominiums,etc. The event data service 106 may in some embodiments be a server thatprovides weather data associated with particular locations, so as toallow, for example, the insurance provider server 108 to receive weatherdata associated with locations of the plurality of properties 102. Insome embodiments, the event data service 106 may be a computingdevice(s) or service(s) that provides (e.g., to the insurance providerserver 108) weather data obtained using a weather alert API, such as theIBM® Weather Alerts for Insurance API or obtained in a similar orotherwise suitable manner. The insurance provider server 108 may be aserver of or associated with an insurance provider (e.g., provided orused by an insurance provider, or use of which the insurance providerotherwise controls or facilitates). The insurance provider may beassociated with the plurality of properties 102. For example, theinsurance provider may be associated with the plurality of properties102 because a prospective purchaser(s) of one or more of the pluralityof properties 102 may apply for insurance coverage for the one or moreproperties from the insurance provider, and/or because an owner(s) ofone or more of the plurality of properties 102 may already haveinsurance coverage for the one or more properties 102 from the insuranceprovider.

The database 110 may store data relating to parties insured by theinsurance provider associated with the insurance provider server 108,such as insured party identification data (e.g., insured party names andcontact information); property identification data (e.g., propertyaddresses); data regarding the event that may be received from the eventdata service 106; image data obtained from an aerial view of theplurality of properties 102 (e.g., after the event); data associatedwith the insured losses; and/or other suitable data described herein.The information stored in the database 110 may be retrieved by, forexample, the insurance provider server 108, the aerial platforminformation server 114, the mobile response unit location informationserver 122, and/or any other suitable computing device(s), and thus thedatabase 110 may be communicatively coupled to such devices as shown inthe example of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, various example types ofdata described above may be stored in another suitable location, such asin a further database (not shown) communicatively coupled to theinsurance provider server 108. The database 110 may be any suitabledatabase(s) or data storage mechanism(s) (e.g., one or more hard diskdrives, optical storage drives, solid state storage devices, etc.).

The insured party mobile computing device 112 may be any suitable mobilecomputing device of an insured party (e.g., an owner of one of theplurality of properties 102) that may, for example, allow the insuredparty to receive one or more notifications associated with the event;allow the insured party to access information regarding filing a claimwith the insurance provider, a location(s) of a mobile response unit(s)deployed by the insurance provider, a condition of the one of theplurality of properties 102 owned by the insurance provider, etc.;and/or may allow the insured party to receive and or provide any othersuitable information to, for example, the insurance provider server 108.The insured party mobile computing device 112 may be any suitablecomputing device, such as but not limited to a smart phone, other mobilephone, a tablet, a phablet, smart glasses, other wearable computingdevice(s), etc.

The aerial platform information server 114 may, in some embodiments,store and/or provide information regarding types of aerial platformsavailable to capture the image information of the plurality ofproperties 102 after the event as described herein. Additionally oralternatively, the aerial platform information server 114 may be used indetermining a type of aerial platform (e.g., manned aircraft, satellite,or UAS) recommended for use in capturing the image information.

The aerial platform 116 with the at least one image capturing device 118may be or may include, for example, a manned aircraft, a satellite,and/or a UAS, with the manned aircraft, satellite, and/or UAS includingat least one camera or other suitable image capturing device as the atleast one image capturing device 118. The at least one image capturingdevice 118 may be configured and/or oriented on and/or in the aerialplatform 116 so that the at least one image capturing device 118receives image data obtained from an aerial view of the plurality ofproperties 102, as further described below.

Each of the plurality of insurance representative computing devices 120(e.g., the first insurance representative computing device 120 a and thesecond insurance representative computing device 120 b) may be used forany suitable purpose or purposes, such as inputting data used todetermine a type of aerial platform for use in capturing theaforementioned image information; providing map data to representativesof the insurance provider showing damage to, for example, one or more ofthe plurality of properties 102; providing and/or determining dataregarding a location(s) of a mobile response unit(s) of the insuranceprovider, such as providing such data to representatives of theinsurance provider; providing data regarding individual insured parties(e.g., owners of individual ones of the plurality of properties 102) toinsurance agents of the insurance provider; and/or providing any othersuitable data to and/or receiving any other suitable data from arepresentative of the insurance provider, where the representative maybe, for example, a representative at a main office of the insuranceprovider tasked with coordinating a response to the event, an agent ofthe insurance provider who primarily interacts directly with insuredparties, a representative of the insurance provider located at a mobileresponse unit, etc.

The mobile response unit location information server 122 may be, forexample, any suitable computing device that includes data regarding oneor more locations configured to accommodate one or more mobile responseunits of the insurance provider, as discussed above and furtherdiscussed below. The third party computing device 124 may be, forexample, a computing device of a vendor that provides goods or servicesto the insured party before, during, or after the event, such as acomputing device of a hotel that the insured party stays at when one ofthe plurality of properties 102 owned by the insured party is a totalloss or temporarily uninhabitable as a result of the event (e.g.,storm). In some embodiments, as further described below, the insuranceprovider may, for example, directly pay the hotel for the stay of theinsured party. For example, the insurance provider server 108 may causepayment to be made to the hotel via suitable communication with thethird party computing device 124 of the hotel (the hotel being a thirdparty with respect to the insurance provider and the insured party) byway of the computer network 104. Additionally or alternatively, asfurther discussed below, the insurance provider may directly pay livingexpenses to the insured party (e.g., by electronic funds transferdirectly to an account (e.g., bank account or other account maintainedwith the insurance provider) of the insured party).

The computer network 104 may be or may include a computer network of theinsurance provider (e.g., provided or used by the insurance provider orcommunications over which the insurance provider otherwise controls orfacilitates). In various embodiments, processors of the devicescommunicatively coupled to the computer network 104 may executeinstructions to transmit data to, receive data from, or otherwisecommunicate with other ones of the devices communicatively coupled tothe computer network 104, as further described below. The computernetwork 104 may be or may include a network such as the Internet and/orany other type of suitable network (e.g., a local area network (LAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a mobilenetwork, a wired or wireless network, a private network, a virtualprivate network, etc.). The computer network 104 may also oralternatively be or include one or more cellular networks such as codedivision multiple access (CDMA) network, GSM (Global System for MobileCommunications) network, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for MicrowaveAccess) network, Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, etc.

Although the example system 100 is shown as including one or multipleinstances of various components therein (e.g., three properties 102a-102 c, one computer network 104, one insurance provider server 108,two insurance representative computing devices 120 a and 120 b, etc.),the example system 100 may include more or fewer instances of one ormore components therein. In some cases, the example system 100 may notinclude one or more of the components illustrated in FIG. 1. Forexample, in one embodiment, the functionality provided by the aerialplatform information server 114 may be provided by the insuranceprovider server 108, and thus the aerial platform information server 114may not be present. Thus, it will be further understood in light of theteaching and disclosure herein that various components shown in FIG. 1need not be implemented as physically distinct components. As anotherexample, the database 110 may be implemented as suitable data storageincluded in, for example, the insurance provider server 108.

Furthermore, while various devices are shown as being communicativelycoupled to the computer network 104, other arrangements may beimplemented. For example, the aerial platform information server 114 maybe directly connected to the insurance provider server 108 (not shown assuch in FIG. 1), and/or may be indirectly connected to the insuranceprovider server 108 via, for example, components other than the computernetwork 104 (not shown in FIG. 1).

Still further, it will be appreciated from the teaching and disclosureherein that one or more components of the example system 100 may, invarious embodiments, not perform or implement one or more actionsdescribed herein with respect to such component(s). As such, in variousembodiments, one or more components of the example system 100 may beconfigured to perform various actions, but may perform less than all ofsuch various actions.

As further described below, the example system 100 utilizes dataregarding a storm or other event that causes insured losses, includingdata before the event, during the event, and/or after the event;indications of locations of the plurality of properties 102; and imagedata and results of processing thereof that indicate conditions of theplurality of properties 102 after the storm or other event to providedata associated with insured losses via a user interface. The storm orother event, and damage to the plurality of properties 102, may thus betracked and assessed using, for example, the event data and the imageinformation. In this manner, among other advantages, representatives(e.g., representatives at a main office, agents, etc.) of an insuranceprovider may assess and formulate an appropriate response to the eventeven when damaged area(s) is/are inaccessible, and appropriate resourcesmay be deployed, as further discussed herein.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an example computing device 200 and componentsthereof are illustrated. The example computing device 200 and componentsthereof may be used in implementing, for example, one or more of theinsurance provider server 108, the mobile computing device 112, theaerial platform information server 114, etc. In the example shown inFIG. 2, the computing device 200 may include a controller 202. Thecontroller 202 may include a program memory 204, a microcontroller or amicroprocessor 206, a random-access memory (RAM) 208, and aninput/output (I/O) circuit 210, all of which may be interconnected viaan address/data bus 212. The program memory 204 may storecomputer-executable instructions, which may be executed by themicroprocessor 206.

It should be appreciated that although FIG. 2 depicts only onemicroprocessor 206, the controller 202 may include multiplemicroprocessors 206. Similarly, the program memory 204 of the controller202 may include additional RAM(s) 214 and multiple program memoriesstoring, for example, modules, routines, and/or instructions formultiple corresponding applications 216A, 216B, and 216C (or anysuitable number of applications), according to the particularconfiguration of the controller 202 and the computing device 200. Suchmodules, routines, and/or instructions, etc. may be used in performingvarious operations for providing data associated with insured losses,such as example operations as described herein.

Additionally, although FIG. 2 depicts the I/O circuit 210 as a singleblock, the I/O circuit 210 may include a number of different types ofI/O circuits (not depicted). The RAM(s) 208, 214 and the programmemory/memories storing, for example, instructions for the applications216A, 216B and 216C, may be implemented in any known form ofnon-transitory computer readable storage media, including but notlimited to semiconductor memories, magnetically readable memories,and/or optically readable memories. It should also be appreciated thatthe example computing device 200 may include additional, fewer, oralternate components.

III. EXAMPLE METHODS FOR PROVIDING DATA ASSOCIATED WITH INSURED LOSSES,INCLUDING EXAMPLE ASSOCIATED USER INTERFACES

FIG. 3A is a flow chart of an example method, routine, or process 300for providing data associated with insured losses, such as insuredlosses sustained by the plurality of properties 102. One or moreprocessors, which may be one or more processors of the insuranceprovider server 108 and/or one or more of the plurality of insurancerepresentative computing devices 120, such as a microprocessor(s)implemented as described above with respect to FIG. 2, may receive dataregarding an event (e.g., a storm such as an earthquake, hurricane, mudslide, thunderstorm, tsunami, tornado, etc.) that is a cause of theinsured losses (block 302). With reference to the discussion above, thedata regarding the event may be received from the event data service106. With further reference to the discussion above, the event dataservice 106 may be or may include, for example, a computing device suchas a server that provides weather data associated with particularlocations, such as locations of the plurality of properties 102. Theevent data service 106 may obtain event data using a suitable API of,for example, the insurance provider or another party. For example, asnoted above, the event data service 106 may obtain event data using theIBM® Weather Alerts for Insurance API, or may obtain the event data in asimilar or otherwise suitable manner.

As further discussed herein, the data regarding the event (at timesreferred to herein as “event data”) may be data regarding the eventbefore, during, and/or after the event. For example, the data regardingthe event may be data for causing a weather radar display on a userinterface associated with the insurance provider server 108 (e.g., auser interface of one of the plurality of insurance representativecomputing devices 120). Such a weather radar display may indicateweather conditions at, for example, the locations of the plurality ofproperties 102 before, during, and/or after the event. In anotherexample, the data regarding the event may be or may include suitablestatistics regarding the event, such as a magnitude of an earthquakethat has occurred, for example.

With continued reference to the actions described with respect to block302, FIG. 4A illustrates an example user interface 400 associated withproviding data associated with insured losses. One or more electronicdevices (e.g., one or more of the plurality of insurance representativecomputing devices 120) may be configured to display the example userinterface 400 and/or may be configured to receive selections and/orinputs via the example user interface 400. In some embodiments, a mobileapplication (e.g., an application such as the application 216A, whichmay be developed to facilitate the providing of the data associated withthe insured losses), may be executed by the insurance representativecomputing device(s) 120 (such as described above with respect to FIG. 2)and may cause display of the example user interface 400 on a display(s)of the insurance representative computing device(s) 120.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the example user interface 400 includes theplurality of properties 102, which in this example are shown asproperties 102 a-102 h, though it will be appreciated that any suitablenumber of properties may be included in the plurality of properties 102and/or included in the example user interface 400. The plurality ofproperties 102 may include the first, second, and third properties 102a-102 c described above with respect to FIG. 1, and may also includefourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight properties 102 d, 102 e, 102 f,102 g, and 102 h, respectively. In the example of FIG. 4A, the first andsecond properties 102 a and 102 b are each labeled “C,” which maydesignate the first and second properties 102 a and 102 b as “claimhomes,” which in turn may indicate homes or properties which havesustained insured loss(es) from the event and with respect to whichcorresponding claims have been filed with the insurance provider. Thethird and fourth properties 102 c and 102 d are each labeled “PC,” whichmay designate the third and fourth properties 102 c and 102 d as“previous claim homes,” which in turn may indicate homes and propertieswhich have previously sustained insured loss(es) from the event or aprevious event and with respect to which corresponding claims havepreviously been filed with the insurance provider. In variousembodiments, a claim may be considered to be a previous claim, and thusa corresponding one of the plurality of properties 102 may be labeled“PC” instead of “C” in the example user interface 400, if the claim isfor a previous event, if the claim was filed a particular amount of timebefore the time to which the data in the example user interface 400corresponds, if the claim is at a particular stage of processing, and/oraccording to any other suitable criteria.

As further shown in FIG. 4A, the fifth and sixth properties 102 e and102 f are each labeled “I,” which may designate the fifth and sixthproperties 102 e and 102 f as “insured homes,” which in turn mayindicate homes or properties that are insured by the insurance providerbut for which no damage has been detected or reported, and for which noclaim for an insured loss has been filed with the insurance provider.FIG. 4A also shows that the seventh and eighth properties 102 g and 102h are each labeled “PD,” which may designate the seventh and eighthproperties 102 g and 102 h as “previously damaged homes,” which in turnmay indicate homes or properties which have previously (e.g., as aresult of a previous event, before a particular time, etc.) sustainedinsured losses. Furthermore, while not shown in the example of FIG. 4A,properties may be labeled “D” in some examples, which may designate suchproperties as “damaged homes,” which in turn may indicate homes orproperties which have sustained insured losses as a result of thecurrent event, after a particular previous time, etc.

With continued reference to the actions described with respect to block302 and to FIG. 4A, the example user interface 400 includes a propertyaddress field 402, in which a user may enter an address (e.g., 123 MainStreet, as shown) of a property (e.g., one of the plurality ofproperties 102 or another property) upon which the user wishes to centerthe map shown in the example user interface 400. The example userinterface 400 may further include a property selection option 404 which,when selected (e.g., by way of touch input, a mouse click, etc.), maycause the map shown in the example user interface 400 to display amarker 405 at the property indicated in the property address field 402and to center on such property and the corresponding marker 405, asshown in FIG. 4A.

The example user interface 400 also illustrates a first weather area406, which may correspond to, for example, an area of light rain; asecond weather area 408, which may correspond to, for example, an areaof heavier rain and which is shown with hatching; and a third weatherarea 410, which may correspond to, for example, an area of thunderstormsor other severe weather and which is shown with cross hatching. In theexample of FIG. 4A, the first weather area 406 may include the secondweather area 408 and the third weather area 410 as shown. Additionally,the example user interface 400 may include a graphical area 412 centeredon the marker 405, with a size (e.g., radius) of the graphical area 412being adjustable as described below. The graphical area 412 may, forexample, define an area to be displayed if a user of the example userinterface 400 zooms in. For example, if a user zooms in, content (e.g.,one or more properties) within the graphical area 412 may appear closer(zoomed-in), while a zoom of areas outside the graphical area 412 maynot appear different after a zoom operation. Additionally oralternatively, the contents of the graphical area 412 may be selected(e.g., by a suitable option not shown in FIG. 4A) for magnified displayin another user interface (not shown in FIG. 4A), and/or the graphicalarea 412 may define an area that may be utilized for any suitablepurpose(s).

With still further reference to the actions described with respect toblock 302 and to FIG. 4A, the example user interface 400 alsoillustrates a home status pull-down menu 414, a mile radius pull-downmenu 416, and a radius adjustment icon 418. FIG. 4A illustrates anexample in which, when selected, the home status pull-down menu 414displays options for a user to select “Damaged Homes,” “Claim Homes,”“Insured Homes,” or “All Homes.” It should be appreciated in light ofthe teaching and disclosure herein that selection of the “Damaged Homes”option may cause properties other than the “damaged homes” indicated by“D” as described above not to be displayed (e.g., the example userinterface 400 may display only “damaged homes”). In some embodiments,selection of the “Damaged Homes” option may also cause display of“previously damaged” homes indicated by “PD” as described above. Itshould further be appreciated in light of the teaching and disclosureherein that selection of the “Claim Homes” option may cause only “claimhomes” indicated by “C” or, in some cases, only “claim homes” indicatedby “C” and “previous claim homes” indicated by “PC” to be displayed inthe example user interface 400. Correspondingly, selection of the“Insured Homes” option may cause only “insured homes” indicated by “I”as described above to be displayed in the example user interface 400.Selection of “All Homes” may cause all homes, regardless of indicator orstatus, that are insured by the insurance provider to be displayed inthe example user interface 400. In some examples, selection of “AllHomes” or another suitable option (not shown in FIG. 4A) may causedisplay of all homes, regardless of whether such homes are or are notinsured by the insurance provider, to be displayed, with data regardinghomes not insured by the insurance provider being obtained from anysuitable publicly available source, API, etc. In some embodiments, whenall homes are displayed, regardless of whether such homes are or are notinsured by the insurance provider, homes that are not insured by theinsurance provider may be suitably indicated as such (e.g., with asuitable alphanumeric designation such as “N”).

The mile radius pull-down menu 416 may be used to select a radius forthe graphical area 412, with example radius options being shown in FIG.4A. Additionally or alternatively, a user of the example user interface400 may use the radius adjustment icon 418 by, for example, clicking on,touching via touch input, or otherwise selecting the radius adjustmenticon 418 and then using a mouse pointer, touch input, etc. to stretch orshrink the graphical area 412, for example.

As will be appreciated in light of the description of FIG. 4A, theexample user interface 400 may, in various embodiments, allow dataregarding an event that is a cause of insured losses to be received and,for example, displayed or otherwise provided via a user interfacebefore, during, and/or after the event. Locations of homes, such as theplurality of properties 102, may also be displayed or otherwise providedvia the user interface based on receipt of such data from, for example,the insurance provider (e.g., from storage of the insurance providerserver 108 and/or from the database 110). Still further, with referenceto the discussion below, locations of mobile response units deployed byan insurance provider may also be displayed. By providing such data evenwhen, for example, the plurality of properties 102 that have sustainedthe insured losses may not be accessible by ground transportation,and/or before accurate damage reports are available, the techniquesdescribed herein allow actual and/or potential damage to properties tobe assessed early so that resources may be effectively deployed to theaffected areas and to insured parties. For example, deployment of suchresources may include providing of funding to insured parties for livingexpenses such as hotel stays, etc., with such funding in some examplesbeing by way of payments directly to the insured parties such as byelectronic funds transfer, as further described herein. As also furtherdescribed herein, such actual and/or potential damage may be determinedat least in part from image data received from at least one imagecapturing device, which may be part of a manned aircraft, a satellite,and/or a UAS. In some embodiments, such actual and/or potential damagemay also be determined based on the data regarding the event (e.g., dataregarding severity of weather, such as severity/severities determinedbased on the first, second, and third weather regions 406, 408, and410), based on the locations of the plurality of properties 102, and/orbased on any other suitable factors.

With continued reference to the example method, routine, or process 300,the one or more processors may receive, for each of the plurality ofproperties 102, a respective indication of a location of the property(block 304). Each of the plurality of properties 102 (e.g., includingthe properties 102 a-h in FIG. 4A) may be insured by the insuranceprovider, and the plurality of properties 102 may sustain the insuredlosses. More particularly, each of the plurality of properties 102 maybe a property with respect to which an insured party has insurancecoverage from the insurance provider, and each of the plurality ofproperties 102 may sustain one or more of the insured losses (e.g., roofdamage, flooding, etc.). In some embodiments, the one or more processorsmay receive the respective indications of the locations of each of theplurality of properties 102 from data storage of the insurance provider,which may be data storage in, for example, the insurance provider server108 and/or the database 110. For example, when an insured party obtainsor applies for insurance coverage with respect to one of the pluralityof properties, the location of the property may be stored by theinsurance provider and received by the one or more processors (which maybe one or more processors of the insurance provider server 108) asdescribed with respect to block 304.

With reference to the discussion of FIG. 4A and, for example, the homestatus pull-down menu 414, the example user interface 400 may includedesired ones of the plurality of properties 102 at their respectivelocations (e.g., by way of including icons corresponding to the desiredones of the plurality of properties 102, such as icons shown in FIG. 4A)based on the home status selected by way of the home status pull-downmenu 414. For example, selection of the “Damaged Homes” option may causedisplay of “damaged” homes (e.g., icons corresponding to “damaged”homes) indicated by “D” as described above, and/or may cause display of“previously damaged” homes (e.g., corresponding icons) indicated by “PD”as described above.

The one or more processors may receive, from at least one imagecapturing device (e.g., the at least one image capturing device 118),image data obtained from an aerial view of the plurality of properties102 (block 306). For example, the image data may be obtained by the atleast one image capturing device 118 oriented on and/or in the aerialplatform 116 (e.g., a manned aircraft, satellite, and/or UAS). The imagedata may be indicative, for each of the plurality of properties 102, ofa respective condition of the property after the property sustains arespective one or more of the insured losses. More particularly, therespective conditions of each of the plurality of properties 102 may beindicated by the image data received from the at least one imagecapturing device 118. With reference to the discussion above, the atleast one image capturing device 118 may include at least one imagesensor. For example, the at least one image capturing device 118 may,with further reference to the discussion above, include at least onecamera or other suitable image capturing device configured and/ororiented on and/or in the aerial platform 116 so that the at least oneimage capturing device 118 receives image data obtained from the aerialview of the plurality of properties 102.

Accordingly, even when the plurality of properties 102 is not accessiblevia ground transport, for example, a user of one or more of theplurality of insurance representative computing devices 120 may causedeployment of the aerial platform 116, capturing of the image data, andreceipt of indications of the respective conditions of each of theplurality of properties 102 at, for example, one or more of theplurality of insurance representative computing devices 120 and/or theinsurance provider server 108. The received indications of therespective conditions of each of the plurality of properties 102 may beused to designate icons corresponding to various ones (or all) of theplurality of properties 102, such as described and shown with respect toFIG. 4A. Additionally or alternatively, the received indications of therespective conditions of each of the plurality of properties 102 may beused to show an actual image(s) of the damage to one or more of theplurality of properties 102 via a suitable user interface, a damagelevel(s) of one or more of the plurality of properties 102, etc., asfurther discussed below.

The one or more processors may process the image data received from theat least one image capturing device 118 to determine, for each of theplurality of properties 102, an indication of the respective conditionof the property after the property sustains the respective one or moreof the insured losses (block 308). With reference to the discussionbelow, the processing of the image data may include, for example,utilization of machine learning techniques, image recognitiontechniques, map data, and/or any other suitable techniques and/or datato determine the indications of the respective conditions of each of theplurality of properties 102.

The one or more processors may provide, via a user interface such as theexample user interface 400 and/or another example user interface(s)described herein, data associated with the insured losses (block 310).The data associated with the insured losses may include (i) therespective indications of the locations of each of the plurality ofproperties 102, and (ii) the indications of the respective conditions ofeach of the plurality of properties 102 after the plurality ofproperties 102 sustains the insured losses. In some embodiments, thedata associated with the insured losses may be provided via the exampleuser interface 400 by displaying icons of properties at the locations ofthose properties as discussed above, and by displaying designations ofwhether particular properties are “damaged,” “previously damaged,” etc.,as also described above. Additionally or alternatively, the indicationsof the respective conditions of each of the plurality of properties 102may be provided via a user interface such as one of the example userinterfaces described below, and may include a respective image(s) of aproperty/ies of the plurality of properties 102 that has sustaineddamage, a respective damage level(s) of such a property/ies, etc.

With continued reference to the actions described with respect to block310, and turning also to FIG. 4B, FIG. 4B illustrates another exampleuser interface 420 associated with providing data associated withinsured losses. One or more electronic devices (e.g., one or more of theplurality of insurance representative computing devices 120) may beconfigured to display the example user interface 420 and/or may beconfigured to receive selections and/or inputs via the example userinterface 420. In some embodiments, a mobile application (e.g., anapplication such as the application 216A, which may be developed tofacilitate the providing of the data associated with the insuredlosses), may be executed by the insurance representative computingdevice(s) 120 (and/or another suitable computing device(s)) (such asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 2) and may cause display of theexample user interface 400 on a display(s) of the insurancerepresentative computing device(s) 120.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the example user interface 420 includes theproperties 102 g and 102 h; the property address field 402; the propertyselection option 404; the marker 405 located at the property indicatedin the property address field 402; the first weather area 406; thesecond weather area 408; the third weather area 410; the graphical area412 centered on the marker 405; the home status pull-down menu 414(shown in collapsed format in FIG. 4B with “Damaged Homes” selected);the mile radius pull-down menu 416 (shown in collapsed format in FIG. 4Bwith ten (10) miles selected); and the radius adjustment icon 418 asincluded in FIG. 4A. As further shown in FIG. 4B, the example userinterface 420 also includes a pointer icon 422, which is shown as ahand, which may be used to hover over a particular one of the pluralityof properties 102 and cause display in the example user interface 420 ofan enlarged view of the particular property, for example.

More particularly, in the example of FIG. 4B, the pointer icon 422 maybe placed (e.g., by way of user input) over the icon corresponding tothe seventh property 102 g, which as discussed above may be a“previously damaged home.” When the pointer icon 422 is placed over theicon corresponding to the seventh property 102 g, an enlarged viewwindow 424 may be caused (e.g., by the one or more processors) to bedisplayed in the example user interface 420. The enlarged view window424 may include a “before” image 426 and an “after” image 428, which maybe images of the corresponding property (in this case the seventhproperty 102 g) before and after the storm or other event occurs at thelocation of the corresponding property.

The “before” image 426 may, in some embodiments, be an image of theproperty stored by the insurance provider before the event, such as animage from a publicly available source or an image otherwise taken by orobtained by the insurance provider before the event, such as at a timeof issuance of or renewal of an insurance policy with respect to theproperty. The “after” image 428 may, in some embodiments, be obtainedfrom the image data received as described with respect to block 306 andprocessed as described with respect to block 308. For example, the“after” image 428 may be a street-level or perspective view instead ofan overhead image by way of the one or more processors using, in somecases, a three-dimensional surface model of the property (e.g., based onthe “before” image 426) in conjunction with image data corresponding toan aerial/overhead view to determine and construct a street-level orperspective image of the property. The enlarged view window 424 mayfurther include agent information 430 indicative of an insurance agentof the insurance provider who, for example, manages an insurance policy(or policies) with respect to the corresponding property (in thisexample, the seventh property 102 g).

With continued reference to the actions described with respect to block310, and turning also to FIG. 4C, FIG. 4C illustrates another exampleuser interface 440 associated with providing data associated withinsured losses. The example user interface 440 may be a more detailedenlarged view user interface (e.g., corresponding to the seventhproperty 102 g, as with the example of FIG. 4B) that may be displayedinstead of or in addition to the example user interface 420. As shown inFIG. 4C, the example user interface 440 may include property addressdata 442 (e.g., indicating in the illustrated example that the seventhproperty 102 g is located at 123 Main Street); date of loss data 444(e.g., indicating that the storm or other event causing an insuredloss(es) with respect to the seventh property 102 g occurred on May 15,2016); loss cause data 446 (e.g., indicating that the insured loss(es)were caused by a hurricane in the illustrated example); damage leveldata 448 (e.g., indicating that the damage level to the seventh property102 g is level two (2), as further discussed below); and a view policyoption 450 which, when selected by suitable user input, may causedisplay of an insurance policy document(s) with respect to the seventhproperty 102 g.

As further shown in FIG. 4C, the example user interface 440 may includethe “before” image 426 and the “after” image 428; property data 452 suchas property statistics (e.g., a square footage, number of bedrooms, andnumber of bathrooms of the seventh property 102 g); policyholder data454 such as identifying information and contact information regardingone or more insured parties associated with (e.g., owning) the seventhproperty 102 g; detailed agent data 456 such as identifying informationand contact information regarding an insurance agent of the insuranceprovider who, for example, manages an insurance policy or policies withrespect to the seventh property 102 g; and mobile response unit locationdata 458, such as information identifying a local hardware store havinga parking lot to which a mobile response unit of the insurance provideris or will be deployed, and contact information for the local hardwarestore (or other suitable location, such as a church or school having aparking lot to which the mobile response unit is deployed).

Accordingly, and with continued reference to the actions described withrespect to block 310 and FIGS. 4B and 4C, it will be further appreciatedfrom the teaching and disclosure herein that the data associated withthe insured losses may include at least one of an enlarged view of oneor more of the plurality of properties 102 before the event and/or afterthe event; property data regarding the one or more of the plurality ofproperties 102 (e.g., the property data 452); data regarding one or moreinsured parties associated with the one or more of the plurality ofproperties 102 (e.g., the policyholder data 454); data regarding one ormore agents of the insurance provider associated with the one or more ofthe plurality of properties 102 (e.g., the detailed agent data 456);and/or data regarding one or more insurance policies issued by theinsurance provider with respect to the one or more of the plurality ofproperties 102 (e.g., as accessible via the view policy option 450).

The example user interface 440 may also include a first number 460 ofthe plurality of properties 102 having a first level of damage from theevent (e.g., a high level of damage); a second number 462 of theplurality of properties 102 having a second level of damage from theevent (e.g., a medium level of damage); and a third number 464 of theplurality of properties 102 having a third level of damage from theevent (e.g., a low level of damage or, in some cases, a low level ofdamage or no damage). It should be appreciated that while the exampleuser interface 440 may be a more detailed enlarged view user interfacebased on placing the pointer icon 422 over the seventh property 102 gwhen “Damaged Homes” are selected in the home status pull-down menu 414,as discussed above, the number of properties shown as having each levelof damage may, for example, account for all of the plurality ofproperties 102 that have the corresponding level of damage. Thus, in theexample of FIG. 4C, the first number 460 of the plurality of propertiesmay be three (3), indicating that three of the plurality of properties102 have the first level of damage. The second number 462 of theplurality of properties may be five (5), indicating that five of theplurality of properties 102 have the second level of damage, and thethird number 464 of the plurality of properties may be one (1),indicating that one of the plurality of properties 102 has the thirdlevel of damage, for example.

Accordingly, it will be appreciated from the teaching and disclosureherein that the data associated with the insured losses may include mapdata indicative of a map view of the plurality of properties 102sustaining the insured losses (such as the map view shown in the userinterfaces of FIGS. 4A and 4B). It will also be appreciated from theteaching and disclosure herein that the data associated with the insuredlosses may also or alternatively indicate (i) a first number (e.g., thefirst number 460) of the plurality of properties 102, where for eachproperty of the first number of the plurality of properties 102, therespective condition of the property is associated with the first levelof damage, (ii) a second number (e.g., the second number 462) of theplurality of properties 102, where for each property of the secondnumber of the plurality of properties 102, the respective condition ofthe property is associated with the second level of damage, and, in somecases (iii) a third number and, if desired, additional numbers, of theplurality of properties 102, where for each property of such a thirdand/or additional numbers of the plurality of properties 102, therespective condition of the property is associated with the third levelof damage or an additional level of damage.

With continued reference to the actions described with respect to block310 and to FIG. 4C, the example user interface 440 may also include areduced map view 466, which may be reduced in size compared to the mapviews shown in the example user interfaces 400 and 420 but which maycontain at least some of the same information, for example. For example,as shown in FIG. 4C, the reduced map view 466 includes the marker 405;the first weather area 406; the second weather area 408; the thirdweather area 410; and the graphical area 412. In some embodiments (notshown in FIG. 4C), additional features from the example userinterface(s) 400 and/or 420 may be included, such as the radiusadjustment icon 418, which may be used to change the radius of thegraphical area 412 in the same or a similar manner as described withrespect to FIG. 4A.

The example user interface 440 may still further include, such as in thereduced map view 466 as shown, icons corresponding to various ones ofthe plurality of properties 102, and in particular the propertyidentified by the property address data 442 and ones of the plurality ofproperties 102 that are insured by the insurance provider andgeographically close to the property identified by the property addressdata 442. Such icons corresponding to the identified property andgeographically proximate properties may, but need not, include any orall of the first-eighth properties 102 a-102 g. As such, in the exampleof FIG. 4C, the icons corresponding to the identified property andgeographically proximate properties include icons for the propertyidentified in the property address data 422 (which as discussed aboveand shown in FIG. 4C, may be the seventh property 102 g); a firstproximate property 470; a second proximate property 472; a thirdproximate property 474; a fourth proximate property 476; a fifthproximate property 478; a sixth proximate property 480; a seventhproximate property 482; an eighth proximate property 484; and a ninthproximate property 486.

As further shown in FIG. 4C, each proximate property is identified in aproximate property table 488 indicating, for each of the proximateproperties 470-486, an address, a date of the insured loss, a weather(or other event) cause or type, and a severity level (e.g., damagelevel, such as one of the damage levels discussed above). The ones ofthe identified property and the proximate properties 470-486 having thefirst damage level (e.g., severity level one (1)) are shown with crosshatching; the ones of the identified property and the proximateproperties 470-486 having the second damage level (e.g., severity leveltwo (2)) are shown with one-way hatching; and the ones of the identifiedproperty and the proximate properties 470-486 having the third damagelevel (e.g., severity level three (3)) are shown with no hatching.

With still further reference to the actions described with respect toblock 310, and referring also to FIG. 4D, FIG. 4D illustrates yetanother example user interface 490 associated with providing dataassociated with insured losses. The example user interface 490 mayinclude an additional or alternative map view (e.g., as compared to thereduced map view 466) of the plurality of properties 102 and associatedlevels of damage (also referred to herein as “damage levels”). Forexample, FIG. 4D shows the example user interface 490 as including afirst damage level region 492, two second damage level regions 494 a and494 b, and two third damage level regions 496 a and 496 b. FIG. 4D alsoshows a number of circles within each of the first, second, and thirddamage level regions 492, 494 a, 494 b, 496 a, and 496 b, where eachcircle may correspond to a property, such as one of the plurality ofproperties 102 (not shown as such in FIG. 4D).

Thus, it will be appreciated that the example user interface 490 of FIG.4D may indicate in particular that properties within the first, second,and third damage level regions 492, 494 a, 494 b, 496 a, and 496 b havesustained the corresponding levels of damage, and may indicate ingeneral that geographical areas within the first, second, and thirddamage level regions 492, 494 a, 494 b, 496 a, and 496 b have sustainedor are associated with the corresponding levels of damage. As with theindicated damage levels of FIG. 4C, the indicated damage levels of FIG.4D may be determined (e.g., by the one or more processors) based on theprocessed image data (e.g., based on the indications of the respectiveconditions of each of the plurality of properties 102 after the insuredlosses). For example, as further described below, the image data may beprocessed to determine an indication of a similarity of the image datato previous image data indicative of damage to property and a conditionof property, and the indicated damage level(s) may depend on theindicated similarity of the image data to the previous image data and onthe level(s) of damage corresponding to such previous image data.

As further shown in FIG. 4D, properties and regions with differentindicated damage levels are shown with different patterns of hatching(or no hatching). More particularly, in the example of FIG. 4D, thefirst damage level region 492 and properties therein are shown withcross hatching; the second damage level regions 494 a and 494 b andproperties therein are shown with one-way hatching; and the third damagelevel regions 496 a and 496 b and properties therein are shown with nohatching.

As will be apparent from the above description, and as should beappreciated with respect to all examples presented in this disclosure,various ones of the functions or operations shown in FIG. 3A may beoptional. Furthermore, the functions or operations shown in FIG. 3A (andeach flow chart herein) may be performed in any suitable order, anydesired number of times, and/or with any suitable variation to theparticular order and/or combination shown so as to achieve a desiredresult, such as a desired manner of providing data associated withinsured losses.

FIG. 3B is a flow chart of another example method, routine, or process350 for providing data associated with insured losses. As will beappreciated in light of the following discussion, the example method,routine, or process 350 may correspond to a more detailedimplementation(s) of aspects of the example method, routine, or process300, and may include additional actions, such as additional actionsrelating to providing and/or using the data associated with insuredlosses.

One or more processors, which may, for example, be one or moreprocessors of the insurance provider server 108 and/or one or more ofthe plurality of insurance representative computing devices 120, such asa microprocessor(s) implemented as described above with respect to FIG.2, may perform the actions described with respect to blocks 302 and 304of FIG. 3A. The one or more processors may cause one or morenotifications associated with the event (e.g., storm) to be sent (e.g.,pushed to mobile computing devices, such as the mobile computing device112) to one or more insured parties before the event based on the dataregarding the event and the respective indications of the locations ofeach of the plurality of properties 102 insured by the insuranceprovider (block 352). The one or more insured parties may be associatedwith (e.g., may own or rent) one or more of the plurality of properties102.

More particularly, in some embodiments, a region of interest may bedefined on a map, such as by way of selecting the size of the graphicalarea 412 as discussed above, and when the one or more notifications aresent to one or more insured parties, the notification(s) may be sent toone or more insured parties within the region of interest and not toother insured parties. Additionally or alternatively, in someembodiments, an alert(s) may be received by the one or more processorsin response to activation of an option (not shown) to receive suchalert(s), with such activation being, for example, by way of user input.The alert(s) may be received from, for example, an API used to providethe data regarding the event, which API may in some embodiments alsocause display of, for example, statistics for potential impact or damagefrom the event for areas and/or particular properties on a map. In someembodiments, receipt of the alert(s) may cause activation of the one ormore notifications, such as activation of functionality of the one ormore processors and/or mobile computing devices to allow pushing andreceiving of the one or more notifications. The one or morenotifications may then be sent to the one or more insured parties asdescribed above. In this manner, the one or more insured parties may benotified in advance of potentially damaging and/or dangerous weatherconditions based on, for example, data regarding such weather conditions(which may include an expected path of a storm) and location dataregarding a property or properties of the one or more insured parties.

The one or more processors may determine whether to receive the imagedata (as described with respect to block 306) using one of a mannedaircraft, a satellite, or a UAS (block 354). The determination may bebased on, for example, a type of the event, a time specified for receiptof the image data, actual weather conditions at one or more of theplurality of properties 102 (e.g., one or more of the plurality ofproperties 102 for which images from an aerial view are specified by auser as needing to be received), and/or expected weather conditionsduring a period of time (e.g., a time at which the image data is to beobtained/received) at one or more of the plurality of properties 102.For example, if cloudy conditions are expected at one or more of theplurality of properties 102 for which images are needed, and/or atnearby ones of the plurality of properties 102, the one or moreprocessors may determine not to use a satellite(s) to receive the imagedata. The one of the manned aircraft, the satellite, or the UAS mayinclude the at least one image capturing device 118, as described above.

In some embodiments, a user may select or define a region of interest ona map, where the region of interest may be a region for which images areto be received. In this regard, FIG. 5A illustrates another example userinterface 500 associated with providing data associated with insuredlosses. One or more electronic devices (e.g., one or more of theplurality of insurance representative computing devices 120, theinsurance provider server 108, etc.) may be configured to display theexample user interface 500 and/or may be configured to receiveselections and/or inputs via the example user interface 500. In someembodiments, a mobile application (e.g., an application such as theapplication 216A, which may be developed to facilitate the providing ofthe data associated with the insured losses), may be executed by theinsurance representative computing device(s) 120 (and/or anothersuitable computing device(s)) (such as described above with respect toFIG. 2) and may cause display of the example user interface 500 on adisplay(s) of the insurance representative computing device(s) 120.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the example user interface 500 includes theproperties 102 a-102 h; the property address field 402; the propertyselection option 404; the marker 405 located at the property indicatedin the property address field 402; the first weather area 406; thesecond weather area 408; the third weather area 410; the home statuspull-down menu 414 (shown in collapsed format in FIG. 5A with “ClaimHomes” selected); and the mile radius pull-down menu 416 (shown incollapsed format in FIG. 5A with thirty (30) miles selected) as includedin FIG. 4A. As further shown in FIG. 5A, the example user interface 500also includes a region of interest 502, which is centered on the marker405 in a similar manner as the graphical area 412 of, for example, FIGS.4A and 4B. The region of interest 502 may be defined in any suitablemanner, such as by suitable input into the property address field 402followed by suitable selection via the property selection option 404 andthe mile radius pull-down menu 416, and/or by any other suitabletechniques. The one or more processors may determine whether to receivethe image data using a manned aircraft, a satellite, or a UAS furtherbased on the region of interest 502 and/or a size (e.g., square mileage,as determined from the radius of the region of interest 502, forexample) of the region of interest 502.

As further shown in FIG. 5A, the example user interface 500 includes anevent type pull-down menu 504, which may allow a user to select fromevent type options such as “Earthquake,” “Hurricane,” “Mud Slide,”“Thunder Storm,” “Tsunami,” “Tornado,” and/or any other suitableoption(s) not shown in FIG. 5A. The example user interface 500 alsoincludes a date and time pull-down menu 506, which may allow a user tospecify a date and time at which the image data is to be received. Theactual and/or expected weather conditions as mentioned above, when usedin determining whether to receive the image data using a mannedaircraft, a satellite, or a UAS, may be determined from, for example,data from the event data service 106 and/or any other suitable device(s)or source(s), such as those described above. The one or more processorsmay then determine a recommended mode of receiving the image data. Forexample, as noted above, when cloud cover over the region of interest502 is dense, use of a satellite may not be recommended. As anotherexample, if a temporary flight restriction over or near the region ofinterest 502 is in effect, use of a UAS may not be recommended. Otherappropriate considerations may be given to the factors identifiedherein, such as type of event, time of day, time of year, size of theregion of interest 502, and/or weather conditions.

With continued reference to the actions described with respect to block354, and turning also to FIG. 5B, FIG. 5B illustrates another exampleuser interface 520 associated with providing data associated withinsured losses. As will be appreciated from the teaching and disclosureherein, the example user interface 520 may be a user interface generatedfrom inputs via the example user interface 500. More particularly, theexample user interface 520 may include the elements of the example userinterface 500, and may further include a platform selection pane 522,which may include a first image 524 of a UAS (labeled “UAS/Drone”), asecond image 526 of a manned aircraft, a third image 528 of a satellite,and a recommendation indicator 530. The example user interface 520 mayalso include a vendor selection pane 532 and a selection confirmationoption 534, which is labeled “Continue” in the example of FIG. 5B. Theplatform selection pane 522 and components thereof, the vendor selectionpane 532, and the selection confirmation option 534 may be displayed inresponse to user selection of the type of event and the time and date atwhich images are to be obtained as described with respect to FIG. 5A.

As shown in the example of FIG. 5B, the recommendation indicator 530 mayinclude a rectangular pane enclosing the image of the recommended typeof aerial platform (e.g., in FIG. 5B, enclosing the first image 524 of aUAS). The recommendation indicator 530 may also include a label of“Recommended” below the image of the recommended type of aerial platform(e.g., in FIG. 5B, below the first image 524 of a UAS). In someembodiments, a user may move the recommendation indicator 530 to adifferent type of aerial platform, and/or may otherwise select a type ofaerial platform besides that indicated by the recommendation indicator530 (e.g., by suitable user input). Moreover, as discussed above, insome embodiments, the aerial platform information server 114 may storeand/or provide information regarding types of aerial platforms availableto capture the image information, and/or may be used in determining thetype of aerial platform to capture the image information (e.g., one ormore processors of the aerial platform information server 114 mayrecommend and/or determine whether to receive the image informationusing a manned aircraft, satellite, or UAS). The vendor selection pane532 may include a list of vendors and prices corresponding to therecommended type of aerial platform, and the selection confirmationoption 534 may cause the one or more processors to place an order fordeployment of the selected aerial platform to the region of interest 502to capture the image data for receipt by the one or more processors.

The one or more processors may perform the actions described above withrespect to block 306 to receive the image data from the at least oneimage capturing device 118. The one or more processors may process theimage data to determine the indications of the respective conditions ofeach of the plurality of properties 102, as described with respect toblock 308, including processing the image data to determine anindication (or indications) of a similarity of the image data toprevious image data indicative of at least one previous propertycondition (block 356). The at least one previous property condition maybe indicative of a property condition (e.g., of one of the plurality ofproperties 102 or of another property, such as another property notshown in the various user interfaces described herein) after apreviously sustained insured loss. The previously sustained insured lossmay, in various embodiments, be an insured loss sustained from the sameevent with respect to which the image data is received as described withrespect to block 306 (and for which an indication of a condition of acorresponding property or properties has previously been determined), oran insured loss sustained from a different (e.g., previous) event.

The processing of the image data to determine an indication of asimilarity of the image data to the previous image data may in someembodiments including utilizing a model developed from the previousimage data. The model may indicate patterns, characteristics, etc. ofthe previous image data that correspond, for example, to particularlevels of damage and/or conditions of property after an event such as astorm. The processing of the image data may thus include determiningpatterns, characteristics, etc. of the image data and the correspondinglevel(s) of damage and/or condition(s) of one or more properties asindicated by the model. It should be appreciated in light of theteaching and disclosure herein that any suitable technique forprocessing the image data, including any suitable technique forprocessing the image data to determine an indication of a similarity ofthe image data to previous image data as described, may be utilized. Forexample, the processing of the image data may utilize any suitablemachine learning technique(s), such as deep learning.

With continued reference to the actions described with respect to block356, and turning also to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram ofan example system 600 for processing image data. The example system 600may include at least a portion of the image data as an input 602. Forgreater ease of understanding, FIG. 6 illustrates an overhead image of aproperty (e.g., one of the plurality of properties 102) coupled to theinput 602, though it will be understood in light of the teaching anddisclosure herein that the actual input 602 may be image datarepresentative of the image shown in FIG. 6. The image data thatconstitutes the input 602 may be representative of an overhead image ofa property that is centered on the property by using, for example, knowninformation regarding a location of the property (e.g., addressinformation, latitude and longitude information, etc.) to center therepresented image on the property even when the property issignificantly damaged or destroyed.

The example system 600 may include a previous image data similaritydetermination block 604 which receives the input 602. The previous imagedata similarity determination block 604 may be or may include, forexample, any suitable computing device(s) to determine the similarity ofthe image data to the previous image data as described above. The outputof the previous image data similarity determination block 604 may be anysuitable data indicative of, for example, patterns, characteristics,etc. of the image data and the corresponding level(s) of damage and/orcondition(s) of properties indicated by a model as described above. Thisoutput may be provided to an estimated damage level block 606, whichmay, for example, include any suitable computing device(s) to processthe output of the previous image data similarity determination block 604and generate data indicative of a damage level or condition of theproperty represented by the image data that constitutes the input 602.For example, the estimated damage level block 606 may perform anysuitable actions to analyze the indicated patterns, characteristics,etc. of the image data and the corresponding level(s) of damage and/orcondition(s) of properties to, for example, determine one of the threeaforementioned damage levels corresponding to the property.

The determined damage level corresponding to the property may beprovided to an actual damage level block 608. The actual damage levelblock 608 may be, for example, any suitable computing device(s) to whicha user may provide input confirming or correcting the damage leveldetermined by the estimated damage level block 606. A resultingindication of the actual damage level may be provided back to theestimated damage level block 606, and an output from the estimateddamage level block 606 may be used to, for example, update a model (suchas a model as discussed above) used by the previous image datasimilarity determination block 604 accordingly.

The one or more processors may perform the actions described withrespect to block 310 to provide, via a user interface (e.g., one or moreof the example user interfaces described herein), the data associatedwith the insured losses as discussed above. The one or more processorsmay receive data regarding a plurality of locations configured toaccommodate one or more mobile response units of the insurance provider(block 358). For example, such data may be stored in data storage of theinsurance provider, obtained from publicly available information such aspublicly available map data, etc. As discussed above, such locations maybe, for example, parking lots of large stores, parking lots of churchesor schools, and/or any suitable locations for staging of a mobileresponse unit to deploy resources (e.g., representatives of theinsurance provider) and/or serve as a point of information for insuredparties in close proximity to the affected plurality of properties 102.

The one or more processors may determine one or more of the plurality oflocations discussed with respect to block 358 to which to deploy orstage the one or more mobile response units based on at least one of thedata regarding the plurality of locations discussed with respect toblock 358, the data associated with the insured losses as discussed withrespect to block 310, or a user input (block 360). As one example, auser may select one or more of the plurality of locations that may beindicated on a user interface (not shown) to be closest to the ones ofthe plurality of properties 102 having the first damage level (e.g.,severity level one (1)) discussed above. As another example, a user mayselect any desired one or more of the plurality of locations.

The one or more processors may determine, based on the data associatedwith the insured losses as described with respect to block 310, at leastone of a reserve setting associated with the event or data associatedwith dispatching of representatives of the insurance provider to atleast one location associated with the event (block 362). For example,the data associated with dispatching of representatives to the at leastone location may be data indicating that more representatives are to bedispatched to a location(s) having more properties with higher damagelevels. With regard to the reserve setting, it should be appreciatedthat by advantageously obtaining the data associated with the insuredlosses as described with respect to block 310, even when accurate damageassessments may not be available from insured parties or affected areasmay not be accessible by ground, and using such data as a basis fordetermining the reserve setting, the reserve setting may beneficially bedetermined much earlier in the process of responding to the event ascompared to conventional responses. As such, appropriate resources maybe more effectively deployed, among other advantages.

The one or more processors may provide, via an additional user interface(not shown) accessible by one or more agents of the insurance providerassociated with one or more of the plurality of properties 102, at leasta portion of the data associated with the insured losses (block 364).For example, the at least the portion of the data associated with theinsured losses may be or may include the portion of the data associatedwith the insured losses that corresponds to the one or more of theplurality of properties 102 (e.g., the location(s) and condition(s) ofeach of the one or more of the plurality of properties 102, map data,the aforementioned enlarged view, etc.).

The one or more processors may cause, based on the data associated withthe insured losses as described with respect to block 310, at least oneof suitable information or funds to at least one of be provided to aninsured party or be provided on behalf of an insured party (block 366).For example, the one or more processors may cause funds to be providedto an insured party (e.g., by electronic deposit or at a mobile responseunit) associated with one of the plurality of properties 102 sustaininga respective insured loss(es) when, for example, the one of theplurality of properties 102 is temporarily or permanently uninhabitableas a result of its respective insured loss(es). Such funds may be in anamount based on a previously established policy amount, an amount oftime during which the insured party needs living expenses to live intemporary housing such as a hotel, a cost the insured party will incurin moving to a new permanent property if the one of the plurality ofproperties 102 is permanently uninhabitable, and/or any other suitablecriteria.

As another example, the one or more processors may additionally oralternatively cause funds to be provided on behalf of the insured partyto a party other than the insured party (e.g., by electronic payment tothe third party computing device 124) to pay for expenses incurred bythe insured party, where the expenses are associated with the respectiveone or more insured loss(es). For example, such funds may be provided toa hotel that the insured party stays at while property of the insuredparty is uninhabitable when, for example, a debit and/or credit card(s)of the insured party are destroyed or misplaced as a result of the stormor other event.

As still another example, the one or more processors may additionally oralternatively cause information to be provided to the insured partyregarding filing of an insurance claim associated with the respectiveone or more of the insured losses. Such information may include contactphone numbers, agent information, etc. As yet another example, the oneor more processors may additionally or alternatively cause informationto be provided to the insured party regarding a location of a mobileresponse unit deployed by the insurance provider in response to theevent. As still another example, the one or more processors mayadditionally or alternatively cause information to be provided to theinsured party, via an additional user interface (not shown) accessibleby the insured party, regarding the respective condition of one of theplurality of properties 102 with which the insured party is associatedafter the property sustains one or more respective insured losses. Suchinformation may be or may include, for example, the determined damagelevel of the property, map data, the aforementioned enlarged view, etc.For example, the insured party may view such information via a securewebsite (e.g., a website of the insurance provider) or in anothersuitable manner in order to confirm that the one of the plurality ofproperties 102 with which the insured party is associated (e.g., owns)is undamaged, to assess a degree of damage to the one of the pluralityof properties 102 with which the insured party is associated, etc. Theinsured party may thereby plan and/or take subsequent actions (e.g.,filing of an insurance claim and/or beginning a rebuilding process)accordingly.

It should be appreciated in light of the foregoing teaching anddisclosure that the disclosed systems and methods provide variousadvantages over conventional techniques for monitoring and responding toan event such as a storm. For example, the event may be tracked at anydesired stage, including before losses occur; the potential for damagemay be more readily understood and communicated (e.g., by way of pushnotifications as described herein) to insured parties; actual damage maybe readily assessed using image data captured from a suitably chosenaerial platform; and appropriate and accurate information may beprovided to allow effective deployment of representatives, mobileresponse units, and other resources of the insurance provider. Suchappropriate and accurate information may include information regardinglocations of damaged properties and severity of damage, and mayadvantageously be obtained even when damaged areas are inaccessibleand/or when insured parties are unable or not yet able to provideaccurate reporting of damage to the insurance provider. As such, actionsranging from pre-event planning through post-event response areimproved, and previous computer functionality facilitating such planningand response is itself improved, such as by determination of anappropriate aerial platform to use to obtain image data and byprocessing of the image data as described herein.

IV. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

The following additional considerations apply to the foregoingdiscussion. Throughout this specification, plural instances mayimplement functions, components, operations, or structures described asa single instance. As noted above, although individual functions andinstructions of one or more methods are illustrated and described asseparate operations, one or more of the individual operations may beperformed concurrently, and nothing requires that the operations beperformed in the order illustrated. Structures and functionalitypresented as separate components in example configurations may beimplemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structuresand functionality presented as a single component may be implemented asseparate components. These and other variations, modifications,additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject matterherein.

The methods described in this application may include one or morefunctions or routines in the form of non-transitory computer-executableinstructions that are stored in a tangible computer-readable storagemedium and executed using a processor of a computing device (e.g., theinsurance provider server 108, the plurality of insurance representativecomputing devices 120, and/or any other computing devices within theexample system 100 in any suitable combination). The routines may beincluded as part of any of the modules described in relation to FIG. 1or as part of a module that is external to the system illustrated byFIG. 1. For example, the methods or portions thereof may be part of abrowser application(s) or an application(s) running on any of thedevices in the example system 100 as a plug-in or other module of thebrowser application. Further, the methods may be employed as“software-as-a-service” to provide, for example, the insurance providerserver 108, the plurality of insurance representative computing devices120, and/or any other computing devices with access to the examplesystem 100.

Additionally, certain aspects are described herein as including logic ora number of functions, components, modules, blocks, or mechanisms.Functions may constitute either software modules (e.g., non-transitorycode stored on a tangible machine-readable storage medium) or hardwaremodules. A hardware module is a tangible unit capable of performingcertain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certainmanner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwaremodules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group ofprocessors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware module that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware module maycomprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured(e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) toperform certain functions). A hardware module may also compriseprogrammable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within ageneral-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that istemporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. Itwill be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware modulemechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term hardware should be understood to encompass atangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed,permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured(e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certainoperations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardwaremodules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware modules need not be configured or instantiated at any oneinstance in time. For example, where the hardware modules comprise ageneral-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purposeprocessor may be configured as respective different hardware modules atdifferent times. Software may accordingly configure a processor, forexample, to constitute a particular hardware module at one instance oftime and to constitute a different hardware module at a differentinstance of time.

Hardware and software modules may provide information to, and receiveinformation from, other hardware and/or software modules. Accordingly,the described hardware modules may be regarded as being communicativelycoupled. Where multiple of such hardware or software modules existcontemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signaltransmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connectthe hardware or software modules. In embodiments in which multiplehardware modules or software are configured or instantiated at differenttimes, communications between such hardware or software modules may beachieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of informationin memory structures to which the multiple hardware or software moduleshave access. For example, one hardware or software module may perform anoperation and store the output of that operation in a memory device towhich it is communicatively coupled. A further hardware or softwaremodule may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieveand process the stored output. Hardware and software modules may alsoinitiate communications with input or output devices, and may operate ona resource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example functions and methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods or functions described herein may be at leastpartially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of thefunctions of a method may be performed by one or processors orprocessor-implemented hardware modules. The performance of certain ofthe functions may be distributed among the one or more processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the processor or processors maybe located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, anoffice environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments theprocessors may be distributed across a number of locations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of thefunctions may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), these operations being accessible via anetwork (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces(e.g., application program interfaces (APIs)).

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe one or more processors, not only residing within a single machine,but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments,the one or more processors or processor-implemented modules may belocated in a single geographic location (e.g., within a homeenvironment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exampleembodiments, the one or more processors or processor-implemented modulesmay be distributed across a number of geographic locations.

Still further, the figures depict preferred embodiments of examplesystems, such as the example system 100 of FIG. 1, and methods forpurposes of illustration only. One of ordinary skill in the art willreadily recognize from the following discussion that alternativeembodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may beemployed without departing from the principles described herein.

Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciatestill additional alternative structural and functional designs for asystem and method for providing data associated with insured losses.Thus, while particular embodiments and applications have beenillustrated and described, it is to be understood that the disclosedembodiments are not limited to the precise construction and componentsdisclosed herein. Various modifications, changes and variations, whichwill be apparent to those skilled in the art, may be made in thearrangement, operation and details of the method and apparatus disclosedherein without departing from the spirit and scope defined in theappended claims.

The patent claims at the end of this patent application are not intendedto be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless traditionalmeans-plus-function language is expressly recited, such as “means for”or “step for” language being explicitly recited in the claim(s). Thesystems and methods described herein are directed to an improvement tocomputer functionality, and improve the functioning of conventionalcomputers

To the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this documentconflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a documentincorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to thatterm in this document shall govern. Although the text sets forth adetailed description of numerous different embodiments, it should beunderstood that the legal scope of the description is defined by thewords of the claims set forth at the end of this patent. The detaileddescription is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describeevery possible embodiment since describing every possible embodimentwould be impractical, if not impossible. Numerous alternativeembodiments could be implemented, using either current technology ortechnology developed after the filing date of this patent, which wouldstill fall within the scope of the claims. While particular embodimentsof the present invention have been illustrated and described, it wouldbe obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes andmodifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claimsall such changes and modifications that are within the scope of thisinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for assessingdamage to a plurality of properties, the method comprising: after anoccurrence of an event that is a potential cause of insured losses,receiving, using one or more processors, from an aerial platform via atleast one network connection, image data (i) obtained by at least oneimage capturing device oriented on the aerial platform and (ii)depicting an aerial view of the plurality of properties; accessing,using the one or more processors, previous image data depicting theplurality of properties, the previous image data indicating, for eachproperty of the plurality of properties, an initial condition prior tothe occurrence of the event; processing, using the one or moreprocessors, the image data to determine, for each of the plurality ofproperties, a subsequent condition of the property after the occurrenceof the event; based on processing the image data, identifying, using theone or more processors, a portion of the plurality of properties eachhaving the subsequent condition that is different from the initialcondition; based on processing the image data, determining, using theone or more processors, a damage severity level for each property in theportion of the plurality of properties; and displaying, using the one ormore processors, in a graphical user interface, a map depicting (i) afirst region including properties of the portion of the plurality ofproperties having a first damage severity level, and (ii) a secondregion including properties of the portion of the plurality ofproperties having a second damage severity level.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein displaying the mapincludes: displaying, in the first region, a first pattern; anddisplaying, in the second region, a second pattern different from thefirst pattern.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: causing, using the one or more processors, funds to beprovided to an insured party associated with a particular property ofthe portion of the plurality of properties based at least upon a damageseverity level of the particular property.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: causing, using the one or moreprocessors, an indication of a damage severity level of a particularproperty to be provided to an insured party associated with theparticular property.
 5. The computer-implemented of claim 1, whereindetermining the damage severity level is further based on weather dataassociated with the event.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim1, further comprising: determining, using the one or more processors,prior to receiving the image data, a type of aerial platform from whichto receive the image data.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim6, wherein determining the type of aerial platform is based on weatherconditions at one or more of the plurality of properties.
 8. A systemfor assessing damage to a plurality of properties, comprising: a userinterface; a transceiver configured to connect to an aerial platform viaat least one network connection; a memory storing a set ofcomputer-executable instructions and previous image data; and one ormore processors interfacing with the user interface, the transceiver,and the memory, and configured to execute the computer-executableinstructions to cause the one or more processors to: after an occurrenceof an event that is a potential cause of insured losses, receive, fromthe aerial platform via the transceiver, image data (i) obtained by atleast one image capturing device oriented on the aerial platform and(ii) depicting an aerial view of the plurality of properties; access,from the memory, previous image data depicting the plurality ofproperties, the previous image data indicating, for each property of theplurality of properties, an initial condition prior to the occurrence ofthe event; process the image data to determine, for each of theplurality of properties, a subsequent condition of the property afterthe occurrence of the event; based on processing the image data,identify a portion of the plurality of properties each having thesubsequent condition that is different from the initial condition; basedon processing the image data, determine a damage severity level for eachproperty in the portion of the plurality of properties; and cause theuser interface to display a map depicting (i) a first region includingproperties of the portion of the plurality of properties having a firstdamage severity level, and (ii) a second region including properties ofthe portion of the plurality of properties having a second damageseverity level.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein, to cause the userinterface to display the map, the one or more processors are configuredto: cause the user interface to display, in the first region, a firstpattern; and cause the user interface to display, in the second region,a second pattern different from the first pattern.
 10. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessors to: cause funds to be provided to an insured party associatedwith a particular property of the portion of the plurality of propertiesbased at least upon a damage severity level of the particular property.11. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause theone or more processors to: cause an indication of a damage severitylevel of a particular property to be provided to an insured partyassociated with the particular property.
 12. The system of claim 8,wherein, to determine the damage severity level, the one or moreprocessors are configured to: determine the damage severity levelfurther based on weather data associated with the event.
 13. The systemof claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessors to: determine, prior to receiving the image data, a type ofaerial platform from which to receive the image data.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, wherein, to determine the type of aerial platform, the one ormore processors are configured to: determine the type of aerial platformbased on weather conditions at one or more of the plurality ofproperties.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring computer-readable instructions for accessing damage to aplurality of properties that, when executed by one or more processors,cause the one or more processors to: after an occurrence of an eventthat is a potential cause of insured losses, receive, from an aerialplatform via at least one network connection, image data (i) obtained byat least one image capturing device oriented on the aerial platform and(ii) depicting an aerial view of the plurality of properties; accessprevious image data depicting the plurality of properties, the previousimage data indicating, for each property of the plurality of properties,an initial condition prior to the occurrence of the event; process theimage data to determine, for each of the plurality of properties, asubsequent condition of the property after the occurrence of the event;based on processing the image data, identify a portion of the pluralityof properties each having the subsequent condition that is differentfrom the initial condition; based on processing the image data,determine a damage severity level for each property in the portion ofthe plurality of properties; and display, in a graphical user interface,a map depicting (i) a first region including properties of the portionof the plurality of properties having a first damage severity level, and(ii) a second region including properties of the portion of theplurality of properties having a second damage severity level.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein, todisplay the map, the instructions cause the one or more processors to:display, in the first region, a first pattern; and display, in thesecond region, a second pattern different from the first pattern. 17.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, whereinthe instructions further cause the one or more processors to: causefunds to be provided to an insured party associated with a particularproperty of the portion of the plurality of properties based at leastupon a damage severity level of the particular property.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theinstructions further cause the one or more processors to: cause anindication of a damage severity level of a particular property to beprovided to an insured party associated with the particular property.19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15,wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:determining, using the one or more processors, prior to receiving theimage data, a type of aerial platform from which to receive the imagedata.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim19, wherein, to determine the type of aerial platform, the instructionscause the one or more processors to: determine the type of aerialplatform based on weather conditions at one or more of the plurality ofproperties.